Definitely
by ashen.sky
Summary: Many fans mourn Teresa's death, including me. What would be the outcome of the Top 5 clash if Teresa didn't die and Priscilla didn't Awaken and slaughter everyone else? This Fic Is Written In Memory of Bishou no Teresa; R.I.P. (Edit: Beware of sixth grade-level writing!)
1. Chapter 1 Faint Smile

"GRAHH!!!!" There was a flash of purple, and then the yoma screeched an ear-piercing noise before splitting in half, blood spraying from its body. A wavy short-haired blonde stepped out, a smile playing upon her lips as she lowered her claymore, which was stained with glistening purple yoma blood. She took a few silent steps towards the ruins of a building, and stopped after approaching a pillar. She paced slightly in front of it. Thoughtfully, she tilted her head back to examine the tall, rusty object.

"Ah," the young woman commented in a feminine voice, "I would normally feel terribly guilty to destroy the only object still standing upright in this pile of ruins, but…" she took a side wards leap, swung her claymore across the pillar in an instant, and landed on the ground, crouched, "…this time I suppose I have an excuse for destruction." Still smiling, she turned her head slightly, just in time to see the pillar split in two, revealing a yoma behind it, who also divided into two with another shriek.

"Your raw strength is still as powerful as a crazy gorilla's, eh, Sophia?" called a rough voice. Sophia stood up and swung her claymore so it pointed sideways, the blood dripping off.

"Some things never change…Noel." Sophia turned around to face Noel as the spiky short-haired female leapt from the top of a crumbled building, landing perfectly in front of a smiling Sophia.

"Your childish monkey jumping proves that." Noel furrowed her brows and turned her head quickly to glare at Sophia.

"Did I hear wrong?"

"Oh, I wouldn't know. It is your ears after all, no?" Noel glared at the smiling face for a brief moment before raising her sword, which was dripping with purple blood.

"Alright. You picked the fight. Let's settle who's Number 3 right here and now!" Noel growled. Sophia swung her sword sideways, tossing off the remaining yoma blood, and pointed it with perfect accuracy at the short-haired's face with her usual confident smile.

"Fine by me."

"What do you accomplish by fighting each other…Noel, Sophia?" Noel, who was just about to lunge, turned her head along with Sophia, even though she knew well whom this voice belonged to. A light breeze blew past, blowing the long white hair and the cape in the wind.

"Long time no see, Irene," Sophia called, smiling at the tall claymore walking towards them as she sheathed her claymore, acting as if nothing had happened. Noel just grunted and turned away, lowering her sword. Irene gave zero response but to continue walking, no expression showing on her face, as usual. Being the calm person she was, she showed no signs of hurrying forward to meet up with the other two, but took her time and continued walking at her old pace. Sophia watched as Irene closed the distance between them step by step, and inclined her head slightly.

"You haven't changed at all, Irene. Still taking your time, as

usual." Irene briefly looked at the two as she arrived. She was exterminating yoma in another part of the town. Unlike Sophia, who had light remaining smears of yoma blood stained on her sword, and Noel, who had a sword dripping with yoma blood and a smudge of purple upon her cape as well, Irene looked as if she just received some new armor and a new sword.

"You've got quite a firm grip on the Number 2 rank don't you, Irene? You don't have any traces of yoma blood anywhere, not even on your sword. And you don't even smell slightly of blood!" Noel continued with a little grin, impressed. Irene glanced towards her again, and closed her eyes.

"I am no longer Number 2." The other two looked up. Sophia's smile faltered, and Noel looked confused.

"What?"

"I have recently demoted to Number 3, making you two Numbers 4 and 5. Another warrior promoted and became Number 2 only awhile ago." Irene reopened her eyes slowly and turned her head slightly. "Her name is Priscilla. Just like the organization's Number 1, Bishou no Teresa, she can dispatch any enemy she faces without releasing any of her yoki." The other two followed Irene's gaze, and noticed a short haired blonde in claymore armor, sprawled on the floor, clutching her head as her claymore lay motionlessly in front of her. Noel stepped backwards slightly with surprise.

"What!? That's only some little girl! Fuck, I'm not going to accept being demoted because of some little bastard!" Noel stormed forward as Irene said, "Try fighting her if you don't believe me. That child…will someday surpass Teresa." Noel ignored and stomped up to the girl, who was still rubbing her head.

"Oi! You there, little girl! I'm not accepting you as Number 2, alright? That's that! You're only some warrior that the they probably screwed up on…I mean, look at the way you are now, on the ground, rubbing your damned head! You look more pathetic than 47!" Noel, angry at her demotion, bellowed at Priscilla. Priscilla apologized over and over as she quickly retrieved her claymore and stood back up, brushing off her armor.

"I-I'm sorry! The yoma took awhile…and I accidentally hit my head on a pillar…I'm sorry!" Priscilla explained in a high pitched, apologetic voice. Noel wasn't about to take that, though.

"I'm not accepting you as Number 2 without a fight!" Noel roared, and she raised her sword, ignoring Priscilla's continuous apoligies, and swung it at Priscilla. CHING!

"Che…" Noel muttered darkly. Irene was, in an instant, behind Priscilla and had extended her own sword, preventing Noel from striking Priscilla, who covered her head with her arms and was trembling. On her arms were a bit of purple blood that splashed off of Noel's blade. Irene's eyes averted slightly to meet Noel's.

"Stop it, Noel."

"But this little-!!"

"Irene's right, you should certainly behave yourself and settle down for a bit, Noel~" Sophia added as she brightly stepped forward from behind the angry tomboy. Before anything else could happen, Sophia went on.

"There must be a reason why Numbers 2-5 are all gathered here. Any one of us could have taken out this town, even with the number of yoma present. So what is it?" Sophia asked, tilting her head slightly and resting one hand on her hip. Irene retrieved her sword, shaking Noel's sword, which was clashed tightly on top of her's, away from Priscilla. Obviously standing no chance against former Number 2, Noel cursed, accepting defeat, and withdrew her sword.

"Our new mission…is to kill the organization's Number 1," Irene stated. Sophia looked up with a little surprise, but made no sound. Noel, however, wasn't shy about hiding her shock and made a disturbing, loud noise that can be described as somewhere between a gasp and a shriek. Priscilla remained silent.

"Normally, I would never take on Teresa, no matter how many members were in the group or how high they were ranked. But now we have Priscilla…perhaps we'll stand a chance." Irene turned to the quiet girl and said, "We'll give you the support and back up you need. Just focus on claiming Teresa's life." Priscilla's old look of fright and uncertainty turned into one of determination, and she sheathed her sword, responding in a solid voice, "I understand, Irene-san."

Shortly after this assassination party met, they set out in search of Teresa. Meanwhile, a wavy blonde long haired woman and a brown haired girl were standing in a room of an inn, observing the large circular room on the second floor. It was elegantly designed, and the furniture was new.

"Is this really okay, Teresa?" the brown haired asked uncertainly, looking around the large room Teresa had paid for. The young woman only smiled and walked up to an armchair, plopping down on it.

"Don't worry. We're only staying here for two days, so we might as well make ourselves as comfortable as possible. Besides…" Teresa set her sword against the wall, "as a former claymore, I get paid pretty high. I've never had any reason to spend my money, so you could say I'm even happy to have a reason to spend." The little girl smiled wide and then climbed up the bed.

"Teresa?" she called. The blonde turned her head.

"What is it?"

"Will they really…come after you?"

"My comrades?"

"Yes. Will they really come kill you?"

Teresa was surprised at the question. She gazed at the little girl, curled up on the bed, her green eyes trembling slightly with concern.

"Don't worry about it, Clare. I will be fine. Trust my words," Teresa assured with confidence. Clare gave Teresa a long look, and then smiled warmly before dozing off. Teresa observed Clare's sleeping face, and then turned her head, catching glimpse of her sword. Her eyes rested on her symbol. She was the strongest claymore ever created, Number 1, Bishou no Teresa. An unbeatable warrior. But she knew they weren't going to give her a special pardon, even if she was the strongest claymore. It wasn't that simple. _They wouldn't let it slide that easily, _Teresa thought, her eyes narrowing slightly, _knowing them, they would probably keep sending warriors to their deaths. _Teresa couldn't help but smile slightly. _Since it's me, it's probably Number 2 through Number 5 who's coming after me this time. _Teresa lifted her head and smiled faintly. She sensed a large yoki. She knew this presence very well, and wasn't surprised to sense 2 others, also two yoki she knew well, along with that large yoki. Those other two weren't as large, but they weren't small either. She wondered where the Number 5 would be, but this didn't concern her at all.

"As I thought," she said before the door opened, revealing a white haired claymore with a cross symbol.

"Yo. It's been awhile, Irene. I'm glad you look so well." Number 1 and former Number 2 looked at each for a few seconds, Teresa with a faint smile and Irene with a calm expression.

"I am here for your head, Teresa," Irene said in a quiet voice, not moving from her spot from the door. Teresa tipped the chair on one leg and spun it 45 degrees so she faced Irene.

"And you think YOU can accomplish that?" Teresa, slightly smirking, leaned back in her chair comfortably and crossed her arms, not at all afraid or concerned. "Go ahead. Give it a try. I don't mind, as long as you keep that sleeping girl out of this." Deep gashes appeared in the walls as a slicing drone was heard.

"Don't worry. It will be over before she wakes up." In a flash, Irene had darted up near Teresa, who responded by snatching her sword and standing up, knocking the chair out of the way. Irene's first move was a slash from Teresa's shoulder diagonally down to her waist while Teresa reached for her sword, but Teresa sensed that coming, and leapt upwards, flipping in the air and landing a few feet away, her sword in her hand, at the spot where Irene was only a moment ago. Irene reacted quickly, though, and shot towards Teresa like a bullet, quickly taking her place behind the blonde. Without giving Teresa another moment, Irene slashed downwards, which Teresa nullified with an upward slash of her own. Then, a slash to the left by Irene, which Teresa rendered useless by slashing to the right with equal power. Irene narrowed her eyes slightly and used Kousokuken, Quick Sword. Teresa acted quickly, and deflected every attack with her sword. The loud clashing of swords was heard, and that was enough to wake up a startled and quite terrified Clare.

"Teresa!" Clare called in a concerned voice. Irene sliced at Teresa's head. Teresa ducked, and an angle of her hair was sliced. Perhaps Galatea would've protested and made a comment, but it didn't bother Teresa much at all. Irene quickly lunged down, and Teresa narrowly evaded by hopping backwards twice and then sliding across the nicely polished wood floor, stopping a bit in front of Clare.

"Don't move," Teresa warned, and then she cursed and spun around when she heard a loud "YAHOOOO!!" that sounded like the voice of former Number 4, Noel. CRASH!!!

"Gyeh…!" Noel growled, lunging at Teresa when her first attack missed. It had, however, successfully destroyed the floor, revealing a slightly confused and surprised Sophia with her sword pointing upwards. Apparently, Sophia was just about to execute her part in the mission, which was to use her unparalleled strength and completely destroy the floor of Teresa's room after Noel's first attack (which was supposed to hit, or at least not make the first floor cave in because of the fight raging on the second floor, by the way), which would successfully send Clare falling and Teresa jumping at Clare. But unexpectedly, Teresa didn't flip backwards at Noel's attack but lean to the right, causing Noel, who was too surprised and had swung too ferociously and fast to change directions of her attack, to smash down the floor, which was crushed except for a part around, fortunately, Clare's bed.

"Gosh," Sophia called, sighing and smiling again at her comrade with a "it can't be helped" expression, "this is the reason you used to always be stuck at Number 4, it's because you aaalways mess up our plan." As Noel angrily hissed and diverted her attention to Sophia, Sophia wasted no time to shoot upwards.

"Well then, we'll just pretend that was an extra step…I'll

make up for your careless mistake," Sophia said as a slight smirk spread on her face; she easily slammed her blade onto Clare's bed, sending Clare and the remains of the bed falling downwards.

"Tere-!!!!!!"

"Clare!" Teresa shouted, cutting Clare off before she sliced horizontally across Sophia's body. Before the blood even splattered from Sophia's stomach, Teresa was already zipping across the room to seize Clare. Sophia had backed up, but the strike still drew blood from her stomach, and Sophia slapped a hand to her wound before blinking slightly slower than normal, and her eyes turning golden in the process. Even a light, near-painless cut like that could be proven fatal later on, like if Teresa attacks that area once more or something. That's why Sophia decided to heal it as quickly as possible, even releasing 10% just to speed up the process. Noel crouched a tiny bit, and then shot out in a blur before disappearing and then promptly reappearing before Teresa, who had Clare secured in her arms.

"Grah!" Noel growled, swinging her sword wildly at the blonde, who dodged every swing with no visible effort. Teresa easily reached out her sword and scratched Noel's arm, causing blood to spurt out. Hissing, Noel continued to attack, but this time with much more ferocity. Sophia promptly arrived, joining Noel in her attack. Sophia had much more strength than Noel, and with her 10% release, her strength boost was clearly visible. After seeing her destroy the floor they were now standing on (the first floor; the terrified owner decided he would rather have them tear down the inn rather than tear him down, so he ran away) with only as much as a tap with the tip of her blade, Teresa realized how much they've all improved during the time she hasn't come into contact with them. Irene's Kousokuken certainly went up a few levels in both speed and power, Sophia's normal strength was even greater, Noel's agility…

"You guys have all gotten better. I'm looking forward to seeing how much Elda improved as well. Where is that girl?" Teresa inquired. It was strange that she didn't sense any presence of the Number 5, Elda.

"Number 5 isn't Elda anymore," Sophia stated before stabbing at Teresa's shoulder, missing, and destroying half of a counter. Teresa didn't know this piece of information, but she didn't react very dramatically.

"Replaced, then?" Teresa casually asked Sophia with her light smile visible upon her face. "Who's the lucky girl who got promoted to Number 5?" Sophia smiled and replied, "Oh my, you are mistaken; the lucky girl has not only demoted Elda, but Noel, Irene, and I as well. The lucky girl who promoted to Number 2…" Sophia slid backwards after clashing swords and matching strength with Teresa, just in time, as Noel jumped off the top of the stairs and stabbed at Teresa, who stepped away. On her face was slight surprise at this piece of information. Someone powerful enough to replace Number 2, Irene…? The most powerful warrior in the current generation, or at least, the generation Teresa knew; Irene had been second only to Bishou no Teresa for a long time…

"Oh? You got replaced, Irene? How depressed you must be feeling," Teresa called to Irene with a slight smirk. Irene bolted forwards, and then crashed her blade down on Teresa's with a surprising amount of force, not looking a bit bothered by the taunt.

"Now, Priscilla!" Irene commanded. Teresa didn't understand what or who Irene was calling out to until she suddenly felt the slightest aura, and spun her head around, still matching power with Irene's sword. She was surprised when she saw how close Priscilla was to her before she even felt her presence at all. _There was another one? Impossible, I couldn't sense her at all, and even as close she is now, I can only barely sense her! _Teresa thought, sincerely shocked. Teresa swung her sword to the side and tossed off Irene's sword the best she could to get a better look at Priscilla. _A child?_ Teresa thought with even more surprise.

"I am Number 2, Priscilla. Please excuse my rudeness, but I am here for your life, Teresa!" Priscilla exclaimed before swinging her sword at Teresa.

"That fool!" growled Noel after hearing this. Sophia,

who had retreated and withdrew her 10% back to 0%, stood at a safe distance from the fight with one hand over her stomach wound, which had completely healed with her release and left only a little rip in her armor, and the other hand holding her sword, resting it over her shoulder.

"My, my," she commented with a slight smile, "the original plan was to have her backstab Teresa before Teresa could register she was there, but it seems Priscilla had something different in mind. A more dramatic entry, it appears. We've got ourselves another plan-changer."

"Che!" Teresa raised her own sword and struck Priscilla's aside before leaping several meters away and setting Clare down behind a rock. This child was much more powerful than Teresa had expected her to be. If she wanted to hold off Priscilla without getting a scratch, she'll have to use both of her arms.

"Te-Teresa…" Clare choked out in a fearful and worried voice. "Be careful, Teresa…" Clare wrapped her arms around Teresa's waist. Teresa watched the little girl's action and smiled warmly.

"Don't worry about me, Clare. I will be back. Trust my words." With that, Teresa stood up and raised her sword, a surge of determination running through her. She had to win this battle. Even if she could only faintly, if at all, sense this new Number 2's yoki, she had to win. For her pride as Number 1and as the strongest claymore created. For Clare.

"Oi. Irene. Noel. Sophia. Priscilla." Teresa called, her eyes glowing a brighter silver. The four looked at her. Teresa tightened her grip on the handle of her sword and bent her knees slightly, slipping backwards a few centimeters. She was addressing everyone, but the one she was really talking to was the new Number 2. The two gazed at each other, Teresa with her fierce and confident eyes and Priscilla with her determined, naive ones.

"Watch out."

And then Teresa shifted her right foot slightly, denting the ground with her foot, crouched down lower, and suddenly shot off, leaving what appeared to be a very light afterimage. On the face of the afterimage…was a faint smile.


	2. Chapter 2 A Promise

CLING! CLING! KIN! With every blow Teresa exchanged with Irene, loud crashes were heard. None of the two women were slowing down, showing any signs of tiring, or giving up. In fact, none of them even looked as if they were putting much effort into this. Underneath their feet, the roof was starting to crumble and undulate dangerous, but neither paid any attention to this.

"Ha…!" came a low grumble as Noel gave an almighty leap upwards, zooming up faster than anything as she viciously swung her sword at Teresa.

"Next time they decide to send me a couple of annoying bitches, I'll pass," Teresa remarked, narrowing her eyes and ducking to avoid Noel's swing. She sensed Irene's right arm releasing a humongous amount of yoki, something she knew very well as "Kousokuken/Quick Sword", Sophia dashing over, and Priscilla landing on the roof, and she flipped backwards, landing a few meters away, a flash of annoyance in her eyes. Sophia, who had landed exactly the moment Teresa moved, slammed the "ground" and nearly the whole roof fell to the floor, but miraculously, there were a few pieces that were still stubbornly holding up. Priscilla stood from a distance, observing Teresa's every move.

"Well you people've certainly improved a bit from before," she acknowledged, "but not quite there yet." Noel responded by muttering, "fuck you" as Irene moved sideways slightly. Then…

"Hm? Releasing more of your yoki, are you?" Teresa tossed her head sideways, her blonde hair bouncing slightly as she gave an arrogant smile. "It doesn't matter how much you release; you won't be able to compare to me." Irene, her eyes now golden, tightened her grip on her sword. Noel chuckled, her eyes identical, as she raised her claymore as if about to decapitate someone. Sophia's mouth curled into a slight smile as she closed her eyes and then reopened them, revealing a mesmerizing gold. Priscilla widened her eyes, and the result was identical. Teresa, watching, raised her claymore in a ready position, and before anyone had a chance to charge, she made the first move.

"I'll get rid of you first," Teresa stated bluntly with a smile as she sprinted at Noel. Noel's 10% release had an instantaneous effect on her already unrivaled speed: stepping out of the way only slightly, she was able to twist her body and throw all of her strength into a repel attack against Teresa's sword all in a split second before Teresa reached her. As fast as Noel was, Teresa's acute yoki sensing alerted her of Noel's intentions. Teresa had more raw strength compared to Noel, and with only slight effort, banged Noel's sword out of the way, faking an attack to her leg afterwards. Noel quickly darted backwards with amazing speed, bringing her sword to shield her leg, but Teresa had zoomed forwards, ignored Noel's defense, and struck her two shoulders. Noel's arms limply fell to the side, and she reluctantly collapsed to her knees, her sword clattering to the ground and landing in front of her.

"Damn…you…" Noel mumbled through gritted teeth as blood sprayed from her shoulders like a crimson flower blooming. Irene watched with no expression, and flew forwards to land a hit on the seemingly sidetracked Teresa, who swung off the blood from her claymore and was about to leap.

"Sorry, but you'll have to wait awhile; I'll deal with you later," Teresa told Irene, blocking the hit before bolting towards Sophia, past Irene, who quickly spun around.

"Sophia! Watch out!" Noel warned, still on the ground. The cuts were deep enough that using her sword would be difficult as of now. Sophia whipped her claymore to the side while spinning around wildly, nearly getting struck, but ending up blocking the hit thanks to her lucky and extremely powerful hit; it was strong enough to push Teresa's sword backwards in the slightest.

"Nice reflexes," Teresa commented with a smirk, shifting her sword so that it pointed downwards. Biki…biki…Sophia had tightened her grip on her claymore, and pushed at Teresa's sword. Because her strength exceeded Teresa's, Teresa (seemingly) willingly withdrew her sword, but it was actually for another reason.

"…but you've got to be faster than that, Sophia." Teresa had spun around Sophia, and ended up behind her.

"Sophia!" Noel shouted. Angry at her inability to be there to protect her best friend, Noel muttered in her head, _move…move…move…!_

"Ah." Teresa examined the sword she caught before turning her head to look at Noel. Noel had her hand in front of her, raised. Teresa, her faint smile amused, examined the newly obtained sword in response, with faked curiosity and confusement.

"Your symbols match. So this is yours, then?" Teresa observed. In an effort to protect her friend, Noel had released 25% now, and had mustered all of her strength to toss her claymore, hoping to stop Teresa. Noel staggered to her feet.

"I may not be able to swing around my sword as well…but I can still move around faster than you!" With that, Noel disappeared and reappeared behind Teresa in one moment, sliding sideways slightly. Sophia, catching the hint, took the chance to raise her claymore and turn around to face Teresa.

"I don't want this thing. Here, have it back." Ignoring everything Noel said, Teresa flipped Noel's claymore around, held the tip of the blade, and knocked Noel away in the stomach with the handle of the girl's own sword before dodging Sophia's fatal hit. More of the roof caved in, and all of them leapt off the ruins to another location, which happened to be a nearby bridge. Irene squatted low before leaping high into the air, flipping, and landing behind Teresa, swinging her sword at her. Teresa tilted her head to avoid the hit and returned it with a strike of her own.

"I told you…" Teresa darted at Irene, and then appeared a split second later behind her as Irene fell to one knee but managed to stand back up, blood splattering from a cut in her left shoulder, "I would deal with you later." Irene held her sword as if she was about to hand it to Teresa, the handle tightly grasped in her right hand.

"I am sorry," Irene said in a low voice, her arm flashing as a rip appeared in Teresa's clothing, "but I can't sit around watching you slaughter my comrades without doing anything." Teresa turned her head and saw the rip, then instantly brought her sword up with a flash, responding to Kousokuken by repelling the strikes with equal speed.

"It certainly has gotten better," Teresa told the calm white haired, "but there is still room for improvement." Irene stopped her Quick Sword and struck hard at Teresa's waist. Teresa jumped and landed gently on Irene's sword before giving another jump and landing near Sophia, who just set down an unconscious Noel.

"What a humane thing to do. I'm not saying your doing something wrong, but perhaps you should worry about yourself, not Noel," Teresa suggested, jamming her blade into the side of Sophia's stomach.

"Kkuh-" Sophia sputtered, eyes widening and blood sputtering out of her mouth as she was struck before she realized Teresa had landed behind her. As Sophia dropped to her knees, clutching her wound, Teresa was "ambushed" by Irene.

"Enthusiastic, aren't you?" Teresa said, the two attacking each other with hard, quick sword strikes. Irene didn't respond, and the injury to her shoulder didn't bother her one bit.

"! Che!" Teresa hissed before spinning around to block Priscilla. Priscilla struck down at Teresa's sword for a fleeting moment, and then hopped backwards a few feet. Teresa did the same as Irene backed up slightly and pointed her claymore at Teresa. The three stood in a triangle, Irene and Priscilla gazing at Teresa, who was, in turn, looking at the remains of the crumbled roof. Priscilla spun her claymore over her head before holding it in ready position.

"You people are sure a pain." With that, Teresa did a backflip in mid-jump and reached out at Priscilla's sword. Landing upside down, being hoisted up by her single left hand gripping the blade of the young claymore's sword, Teresa tightened her grip around the blade and roughly and suddenly yanked the blade towards herself. Priscilla, surprised at the sudden movement, stumbled slightly. Teresa swung her sword to take the shocked girl's head, but Irene had sprung up and blocked it as the blade was only millimeters from Priscilla's neck. Teresa decided to take things in little steps; instead of aiming for the head, she took this chance to spin 180 degrees and draw a long line of blood from the short haired girl's arm before pushing herself into the air and then flipping back to the ground on her feet. As her feet barely touched the ground, Irene lashed out at her once more. Teresa's eyes blinked to her right arm, noticing another rip in her armor. Finally deciding that having those two strong ones as a combination was making her life pretty complicated, she twirled the sword in her hand before plunging it into Irene's shoulder. Irene's eyes flashed wide open for a brief second before she squinted one eye shut, letting out only the slightest of noises from the pain before unwillingly falling face-down on the side of the bridge, her hair sprawled on her back and around her as a stray strand of hair draped in front of her squinted eyes, her teeth gritted. She raised her pale face slightly, struggling to do so, just in time to see a completely uninjured Teresa flip backwards, more graceful than anything. Instinctively, she shot out her arm to seize her sword, which was lying in front of her. A jolt of pain ran through her arm like electricity as an increased amount of blood gushed through the deep wound in her shoulder. Irene's arm twitched and withdrew slightly, and she squinted her eyes once more. Priscilla stepped in front of her, her sword raised in ready position.

"Please leave the rest to me, Irene-san," the young girl said, her eyes narrowed. Her golden eyes slowly skimmed her surroundings. _Noel-san is unconscious, Sophia-san is unable to fight anymore, and Irene-san should probably stay back, judging from her injuries. Please do not worry, mina-san. I will accomplish this mission no matter what._

"I am coming now, Teresa," Priscilla announced before running at the older woman, her sword tightly held in her hands. Teresa lowered her sword in response, and retreated swiftly. Priscilla spun around to face the former Number 1. Teresa had backed up until they were facing each other with a safe distance in between. Normally, it would've been described as across the street from each other, but the streets were so badly damaged you couldn't tell if it was a street or a small dried up lake filled with random, deformed, and half destroyed items. Priscilla had her eyes only for Teresa and focused purely on beheading her. Teresa, on the other hand, appeared to show much more interest in the buildings they've crushed than her opponent. But in reality, her concentration was intently focused on this new claymore. _This girl has potential, _Teresa admitted in her mind. _Got to end things before it gets messy. _Teresa's arm, which was rested at her side until now, flashed upwards, and Priscilla's eyes widened as a big crash was heard. Turning her head frantically, she found Teresa's sword jammed into the wall of the building behind her. Not understanding, she glanced at Teresa, who was smiling slightly and still standing where she was, her right arm outstretched casually. Priscilla turned to look at the thrown sword once more. She didn't realize her fatal mistake until she saw the sword disappear from view and feel a hard, cold, sharp object slash against her shoulder; Teresa had sprinted forward with speed comparable to Noel's (before Noel's 10% release, obviously) and, reclaiming her sword before one could blink, had successfully diverted the other claymore's attention and attacked a side-tracked, guard-lowered Priscilla (Tezuka: [stony faced] yudan sezu ni ikkou. XD) Dropping her to her knees, Priscilla's sword fell with a loud clatter to the ground next to her. Her head was bowed as if in prayer, and she only raised it as she heard the 'tmp, tmp' of Teresa's shoes.

"Priscilla!" Irene called, her eyes widening slightly and urgency hinted in her voice. _Damn, Teresa sensed it as well? Priscilla's potential…_Priscilla's eyes widened fearfully as she saw Teresa raise her sword bit by bit as she approached. When she was directly in front of Priscilla, the sword was over her head as if she was about to decapitate someone. The young claymore, mentally, desperately attempted to grab her sword and stand up, but physically, her body was paralyzed in fear. _Move…move…move…please…_She tried frantically again and again to reach out for her sword, but her body wouldn't obey. Moving unconsciously, she tilted her head up to look at Teresa once more, her eyes returning silver and tears filling her eyes and sliding down her face. _This feeling of complete defeat…unable to move at all just at the sight of this…this…monster…I…I…_she squeezed her eyes closed tightly, tears still flowing down her face as Teresa swung her sword down, _I don't want to die!!_ She kept her eyes closed, her tears not stopping. She waited for the breath to be caught in her throat, unable to be exhaled. She waited for her head to slam onto the ground as her lifeless, headless body slumps to the ground. She waited for the piercing pain to come. She waited for the icy blade to touch her neck. But none of them came. Opening her teary eyes as if the sunlight was blinding her, she noticed that Teresa had the sword a bit above her shoulders.

"I must be getting soft," Teresa commented with a little smile to herself as she drew her sword, sheathed it and began to walk away. Turning her head around, still walking, she called, "I'll let you go this time, Number 2." With that, she turned her head away and kept walking. Priscilla's tear-stained face glistened in the sun as her tears slowly came to a stop. Relieved that she had kept her life, Priscilla's tense body finally relaxed, and she let herself slump to the floor, a sheen of sweat on her face from fear. _S-So…not always are people who break the rules necessarily evil…? _She watched as Irene walked over, a slight unsteadiness, but it was only noticeable if you really looked closely. Sophia was limping over, supporting a now-conscious Noel.

"The mission was a failure after all." Irene sheathed her sword, expressionless. Privately, she was relieved that she didn't have to kill her friend just because the silly organization decided that killing a group of evil humans to save one good human was a bad choice; of course, she would never say that out loud. Sophia smiled.

"Oh my, what are we going to tell them?" Noel,

admitting defeat, grumbled something inaudible and swayed dangerously as she attempted to stand up herself.

"We tell them what happened, of course," Irene stated simply. She then spared Priscilla a quick glance before closing her eyes. _Have I…underestimated Teresa once more? _Sophia chuckled slightly as she extended her hand towards Priscilla. The young girl took it and stood up, leaving her claymore on the ground.

"That woman…really is undefeatable, huh?"

Sophia gave a tinkling laugh resembling bells chiming. Priscilla gazed at Teresa walking off into the distance, and stepped forward, her hand reaching for her sword.

"Give it up," Irene said, putting out her arm in front of Priscilla to prevent her from taking another step, "no matter what you do, Teresa will always be a step ahead." Priscilla looked up at Irene.

"But the orders-"

"Irene's right, the orders don't matter crap anymore." Noel spoke for the first time in a long time. "Let 'er go get on with her life with the little human girl." Priscilla looked at Noel for a bit, and then at Irene, who gave a slight nod of agreement. A silence filled the air.

"Wanting to live like a normal human amongst humans once more isn't a crime," Sophia said softly, breaking the silence. "It…must be sort of nice, to be able to do so."

"Yeah. That lucky woman." Noel glanced

around pointlessly after agreeing with her rival, slightly disgruntled at the fact that she had admitted Sophia to be correct. A shout of relief and joy broke out in the air, and everyone turned just as a girl bounded into view.

"Ah…" Noel grinned a bit as Sophia smiled cheerfully. Even Irene gave a slight smile at this. _Being able to live a human life and be human again…I envy you, Teresa._ Priscilla watched with a little surprise, and then Noel reached out and ruffled Priscilla's head, finally accepting the young child and getting over her childish grudge on her.

"Don't look so tense, cheer up! It's not like the organization could kill us, with Teresa gone and all, we're Top 5! At the most, we could just desert the organization and run off with Teresa, or something. Maybe," Noel dropped her voice to a mumble, more telling herself the last sentence rather than to the others, "just maybe, we'll find our humanity back as well…"

"Definitely," Sophia agreed with a light smile, gazing in the distance at the older woman and the young human girl as golden sunlight basked down on all of them; a light breeze softly tugged at their hair and capes as Sophia repeated with a gentle whisper, "definitely, someday…"

Follow Up (this part is optional, it is just adding more to the ending; if you felt you've read enough, you can ignore this):

Sophia picked up Priscilla's sword and handed it to her kindly.

"Here, put this back. After all, what is a warrior to do without her sword?" Priscilla took the sword and sheathed it. She was content. No, not yet. She had to ensure one more thing-

"Irene-san?" The white haired woman dropped her smile for a bit and watched Priscilla. Then, turning on her heels, she begun to walk off.

"No, this is fine. What Noel suggested is fine. Let's go." Priscilla finally gave a smile. Noel and Sophia walked off after Irene. Priscilla followed, but then paused and turned her head back with a light smile. _Thank you, Teresa-san. I can…finally understand why you made your choice of desertion. Teresa-san, you're…truly a good person._

"What are you doing, Priscilla? We'll leave you behind!" Noel called with a playful grin. Priscilla apologized immediately. She glanced back once more before darting off after the three. _I can see, now. Definitely, not everyone who breaks the rules are evil._

(If you read that and would like to stop there, that's fine as well, but for those who would like to keep going, I have one more Follow Up, a last one…)

"Teresa!" Clare shouted, running towards the blonde haired woman. "Teresa!" Teresa stopped in her steps and turned towards Clare, an amused yet content expression on her face.

"Sorry to keep you waiting, Clare." The little girl, arms raised, leapt at Teresa and held her waist tightly, mumbling the older woman's name over and over with joy.

"I told you that I'd be okay. Did you doubt me? As I said before, I don't lie. I don't need to." Teresa raised an arm to pat the girl's brown hair. Clare lifted her face to look up at Teresa. Her brilliant emerald eyes were sparkling with tears threatening to spill, but upon her face was a wide smile of happiness. The usually-intimidating-and-superior-looking woman let a soft, warm smile onto her face as she smoothed the girl's hair in a reassuring way.

"It's all alright now, Clare."

'_I won't leave you, ever. We'll be together until the very end. Definitely.'_

OWARI

**What did you guys think about it?  Please review! No matter if you read up only to the first stop, second, or all the way, the last sentence all have the word 'definitely' in it. That's the reason for my title ^^ I couldn't come up with anything else, so I'm sorry if it's lame! I certainly hope you guys enjoyed it! **

**Also, about my Gakuen Alice fic, if you've read it, I WILL finish it, but I don't have any inspiration as of now, so it will take awhile. But rest assured, I will definitely complete it!**

_This fic was written in memory of former Number 1 and strongest warrior created, Bishou no Teresa._

_~R.I.P, Teresa~_


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